Goodbye, 2024, you chaotic overachiever, and hello 2025! Like every New Year, we dive in headfirst and pretend that turning the page in our calendar will suddenly fix our lives! We treat each year like a shiny new model, but are we expecting too much? Gym memberships rise, and vision boards are crafted, and plastered with our new year’s resolutions. Really those “visions” are like drunk promises we know we won’t keep.
By day three or four, we are tired of eating Kale and wish we had the holiday cookies still left in our pantry. One thing that never changes with each new year is that we know whatever promises or commitments we made in good faith will most likely never be met because they are just one of those New Year’s resolutions that fall by the wayside. Cheers to the illusion of change!
As we enter the new year one would hope our City Council members had an epiphany to put the community first over their own self-interests. Soon we will know because a new year also means a new city council election and guess what, it is right around the corner. The first day to file for a place on the ballot is January 15th and the last day to file for a place on the ballot is February 14th. Time will fly and soon it will be April 22nd, the first day to early vote. All of it will come to a close on election day which is May 3rd.
From now through election time, you can expect to hear how the candidates or incumbents will be transparent and represent you the residents. We will hear the same old tired-out slogans such as “We are the #1 this and the #1 that.” You can bet money the incumbents will talk about how “we are the #1 Safest City” and how they have a personal stakeholder position in making that happen. It leaves us wondering if residents will open their eyes to the fact that the city manipulates what we “need to know” versus the truth of what is happening around us! Remember John “Cheating” Keating (who hopes to be our next Mayor) threw the #1, #1, #1 in our face over and over during his election.
Even high-profile NFL athletes are not exempt from being the victims of crime. By now you have heard about the burglaries targeting the homes of NFL players, including Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, along with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Recently, local DFW news stations reported that on December 27th in the affluent upscale Preston Hollow neighborhood, the home of Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic was broken into. Reports say the thieves got away with $30,000 worth of jewelry. The FBI has gone as far as to warn the NFL and NBA that players need to increase the security of their homes when they are away playing, and they believe they have connected these burglaries to a “transnational South American theft group.”
The good thing is we can rest easy here in Frisco! We are the #1 SAFEST CITY! That means it would never happen here, right? One might think since Frisco is known as Sports City USA, we could be a target! If something like that happened here, surely the city and Frisco PD would put out a crime alert to warn the residents of Frisco. It would have made the local news stations just like Luca Doncic home break-in. Frisco has several affluent neighborhoods, filled with high-profile players, and I am sure their neighbors would want to know if that happened in their community.
FWB received a tip over the holiday break that it did happen here! In fact, based on the police report, the home burglary took place in our very own affluent community of Stonebriar Country Club. According to one website, residents of SCC enjoy a wealth of amenities in the exclusive guard-gated community that epitomizes luxury with elegant homes and a lifestyle of unparalleled sophistication and tranquility. Residents should know they are not exempt from this kind of potential danger.
When did this happen? November 28th just after Thanksgiving, during the Dallas Cowboys game against the New York Giants at AT&T stadium. The home game started at 4:30 pm and the report states the crime was committed 11/28/24 between the times of 15:05 (3:05 pm) and 20:44 (8:44 pm). Ken Wang is listed as the case officer and the Incident Report number is 24143447. The offense code is listed as Burglary of Habitation. The Frisco Police Report states 8 watches totaling $550,000 along with 2 purses totaling $100,000 were stolen. The remarks state unknown suspect forced entry into a home and stole $700,000 worth of miscellaneous jewelry. Luca Doncic got off easy!
To protect the NFL player, we are not going to release his name or address because his family has been through enough! We can tell you we googled the address, and we were surprised to see it on Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com. One would assume that Realtors who handle multi-million-dollar listings like this would remove the photos once the listing is sold. The images on the Douglas Elliman listing, show the whole home, and the location and access points of the home. Douglas Elliman is a well-known, respected real estate brokerage which is why we are a little surprised the listing agent did not remove the photos after selling it. We are curious if those images could have helped the criminals figure out how to access the home.
I asked my neighbor, a Frisco Realtor if agents usually remove high-end listing photos after a sale. He said that good Realtors are usually proactive and to protect the privacy of both parties after a sale, they request removal of the images on luxury listings. He also told us while the listing agent can request the removal of photos after a home has been sold, there is no guarantee a third-party website will take them down. I asked him how an owner could request the images be removed and he told me owners can google how to remove the pictures of your home from real estate websites and each one has step-by-step instructions on how a homeowner can remove them.
Residents of Frisco had the right to know about a burglary of a habitation where over $700,000 worth of valuables were stolen in our opinion. Frisco PD could have withheld the player’s name and address but a warning to the community. How is it, that every other high-end pro-athlete burglary made the news, and this one didn’t? Did Frisco PD ask the FBI if this could be related to the other high-end thefts? How come we never heard about this burglary on the news?
The city does not point out we are a safe city, they always say we are the #1 safest city and to be honest, it does not feel very safe here anymore. We have had more crimes, shootings, and God knows what else because leaders manipulate want, they want to share so it fits their narrative. Just like they manipulated the sales presentation of Universal Kids. After it passed, residents learned everything they promised changed from the height of rides, the traffic congestion they claim will not happen, and the times the theme park would be open. In Frisco, the NFL stands for Navigating Frisco Lies!
The ticking of time is the invisible heartbeat of our lives and affects every moment of our consciousness. Time and self are in perpetual handshake – for example, a human trapped in a completely dark cave would still be governed by the circadian rhythms of their internal clocks. There are many careers in which “time” is a critical component. Metrologists have technology that is incredibly accurate to measure the passing of minutes, seconds. Surgeons in an operating room live on a time clock and those who take too long could kill someone. Professional surf boarders must be able to catch the perfect wave and football players have to make the play in a certain space of time or face penalties. Various factors are crucial to our construction of the perception of time such as memory, concentration, emotion and the sense we have time is somehow located in space.
When it comes to the job of a firefighter, time plays a critical component. Imagine your house catching fire, flames coming out of the windows and roof line while you hear loud pop and bang sounds from things exploding inside. As you watch the firefighters attack the house fire, you become almost paralyzed, and time comes to a standstill. As you stand there seeing the chaos around you, it begins to feel like an eternity of time. For the firefighter the stress put on their body fighting your house fire can prompt their brain to speed up its internal processing which helps them face life or death situations.
When the process began to search for a new chief, the firefighters quickly realized the city had an agenda and that former Assistant Fire Chief Lee Glover from the “Un-Happy Days” was about to be their new commanding officer and Chief. The Frisco Firefighters Association did a survey and provided it to the City Manager and Council. In Survey Says we told you about that survey and its results. Question 1: Do you want Interim Fire Chief Glover to be the next Fire Chief of the Frisco Fire Department? Survey says … 92.5% said NO. City Manager Wes Pierson and his office, along with City Council, were given the results and they chose to disregard the voice of some 200+ firefighters and make Lee Glover the new Fire Chief.
When we were reading through the “In-Service Meeting” notes it was noted that firefighters believe it is their Chiefs job to fight for them and defend them but instead they feel Glover ignoring the staffing issues and only doing what is being asked of him by City Manager Wes Pierson. They don’t believe their current leader and Chief supports them in any way and the result is they have no voice with city management and city officials. One comment noted, “we are not being heard and it will take one of them dying before Glover or the city take notice of staffing issues.”
Who is responsible for hiring and firing in the city? Mayor Jeff Cheney addressed this issue in the 2023 Mayoral Campaign at the Star Patriots Candidate Forum. The Council hires the City Manager, and it is the city managers responsibility to manage and hire and fire department heads. If something goes wrong, you can bet Cheney will excuse himself from responsibility and put it all on Wes Pierson.
Another comment from the most recent notes reads, “we work under the fear of retaliation and feel we are disciplined for the simplest mistakes.” We feel like we have heard this before – oh yeah, we have in the 2011 Climate Report when Lee Glover was the Assistant Fire Chief. The 2011 Climate report reads “firefighters talk about getting in trouble for small things and being required to write memos on things they done (and re-writing them over and over until the Senior Officer is happy with it).” It goes on to read “they are being threatened with their job, being moved to the day shift, being belittled, yelled and treated like children.” Proof is in the pudding!
The “In-Service Meeting” notes also address promotions and annual evaluations. Officers feel they meet their rankings, do their job, and then they are told they must do more than that to get to move up. Now the promotional process is based on a “taskbook” which is a checklist that shows what a firefighter or officer understands and has been cleared in, to show they are proficient in the job they will be stepping into. It was recommended by one of the committees to implement the taskbook in 2025. The 50+ pages of notes said some complete the taskbook, but others can be prevented from completing it by the Battalion Chiefs which prevent them from testing. One comment was the process was very “subjective” and “some are allowed to test, while and others are not allowed to test for promotions.” We know from talking to several inside sources that just recently a handful of firefighters applied for the LT positions, and they were not allowed to test even though they qualified which matches the statements made by the firefighters at the meeting. We also learned that Fire Chief Lee Glover choose to ignore his committees (another complaint in the notes) and implement the taskbook requirement now and that did not give all the candidates time to complete it before the test.
After reading this, we honestly feel like we are on a Merry-Go-Round that is not so …merry. We pulled up the 2011 Climate Report that reads “firefighters’ perceptions of the hiring and promotion process is that it is manipulated by the Chief and Senior Officers.” It goes on to read “firefighters would like to see a hiring and promotion process established, published and followed that does not allow for manipulation of the data of tests and who is selected.” So basically, what is in the 2011 Climate Report matches the feelings of the 2024 In-Service Meeting Notes and the one common denominator is … Fire Chief Lee Glover!
We think that City Manager – Wes Pierson, Mayor Jeff Cheney, and the City Council suffer from Echolaia, which is the repetition or echoing of words that you hear someone else say. If not Echolaia, then they suffer from insanity which is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If they don’t have either of those two medical conditions, well then, they suffer from just simple stupidity. Voltaire noted that the more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it appears to be wisdom.
In a nutshell the council hopes we are “STUPID” and if they just repeat the same thing over and over, we will begin to believe it. They are like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ clicking together her ruby red slippers but instead of saying there is no place like home they are saying Chief Glover is the best, Chief Glover is the best! Just look at Mayor Jeff Cheney at the Star Patriot forum in 2023 when he was running for re-election. After seeing the FFA Survey showing a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the new Fire Chief Lee Glover, he went to a candidate forum and directly lied to our faces talking about how great Glover was and how he was already improving things at the fire department. LET THAT SINK IN FRISCO RESIDENTS: MAYOR CHENEY KNOWINGLY LIED DIRECTLY TO VOTERS and thought he would never get caught.
Remember, the entire goal of the city and its leadership at all levels these past two years has been to blame Piland, blame the power grab on the “small portion of firefighters”, and to blame anyone and everyone but themselves. They have LIED…. and in the most recent election for the propositions the Frisco Fire Association even made a video pointing that out.
The only mistake the City of Frisco and Frisco City Council made was thinking people would not get tired of their BS and start to pay attention. That failure is what allowed the Whistleblowers to rise up!
The other day I was reading an article about the most common 6 phrases people say to gaslight and manipulate you. What is gaslighting? It is a manipulation tactic often wielded by emotional disruptive abusers and is insidious in nature making it hard for a person to recognize the tactic is happening. What happens when someone tries to gaslight you?
Gradually you begin to question your own judgement, memories, feelings and questioning reality. The article quoted therapist Shannon Thomas who stated that “people who cannot authentically argue their point of view or stand behind their words turn to gaslighting as a tool.” She went on to say ’they resort to confusion creating tactics, and that it really is a true sign of character weakness.”
It made me think back to our recent elections and the mixed messaging the city tried to sell to citizens while attacking our Frisco Firefighters relentlessly while also saying they support our first responders and dedicate at least ½ our annual budget to public safety. They also attacked and tried to destroy the reputation of Former Fire Chief, Mark Piland by saying he was the problem and the reason for the low morale. The solution, to make Lee Glover, the new “SAVING GRACE” Fire Chief. Based on the In-Service notes we have reviewed, the city may have failed “BIG TIME” and the leader driving the bus is our very own City Manager, Wes Pierson!
After the election was over there was a large disdain between our Fire Department and the city so they planned a weeklong set of In-Service Meetings, aka “Healing Sessions” to listen to the firefighters’ concerns. We filed a PIR for anything related to those meetings and after reading the 50+ page report of notes one thing became very clear, the city council knowingly and repeatedly lied to citizens during the election.
Example 1: The Vote No PAC, funded by Frisco Developers, and run by Mayor Pro Tem Bill Woodard
Councilman Woodard was interviewed by Jack Fink with CBS Texas and when asked why the Fire Fighters were bringing the propositions to the ballot, he specifically said due to the “FORMER LEADERSHIP” of the department, referring to Former Fire Chief Mark Piland. We assumed we would see some of those issues noted in this 50+ page report, however only 2 comments were made, which is one the environment is a little more relaxed now (uniforms) and that Piland may have tended to over communicate to the department.
However, they had a lot to say about the current Fire Chief, Lee Glover. When it comes to budgeting and purchasing new equipment, they feel the Chief Glover is out of touch with today’s firefighting tactics. Firefighters said Glovers’ only tactic since arriving has been cost cutting measures to look good to the City Manager’s Office and council and that means he his neglecting his duty to his command.
Remember the Blood Program, otherwise known as which was carried by the Squad Unit? Refresh your memory by reading our older articles “Another One Bites The Dust” and “Make It Look Pretty.” At the time Councilman Woodard was the “city mouthpiece” across social media supporting Glover’s decision to end the Squad program and transfer the blood program to two battalion chief vehicles. The report talks about Glover’s cost cutting measures and how the firefighters believe removing the Squad Unit and transferring the Blood Program was a huge failure as it took away two extra working people on calls and losing the expertise of the Squad members could be and will be deadly to citizens.
What is the end result of the firefighter’s statement above about their concerns with Glover being out of touch with today’s firefighting tactics? Chief Glover has cut valid programs, training and they believe he is purchasing the wrong equipment. Glover has also de-incentivized training under his command, and today they have less training which is dangerous. Courses and training are required for promotions to the next rank and other departments pay for employees to attend training, but Glover is telling his command to “put stock in your own training.” As for equipment, Glover is buying more Quints -the big bulky fire trucks of the old days, which are hard to get around the neighborhood’s tight and crowded streets. The firefighters prefer more engines and tillers. We are told engines are quicker and shorter in size making them a better choice. We are also told the tillers are an advantageous truck because they can go anywhere, carries more tools and is quicker to vent with 107’ ladder.
Are we done yet? Oh no, we are just getting started! There is so much to go over that we are going to break it up into multiple articles this week. Tonight, we leave you with three questions:
1. Why is the City Council and City Manager gaslighting residents into believing all of these issues are due to Former Fire Chief Piland who was endorsed by the Frisco Firefighters Assocation this year during the election?
2. Why is the City Council and City Manager gaslighting residents into thinking the problem is our Fire Association, who they called Greedy Bastards, power hungry and lazy during the election?
3. Why is the City Council and City Manager dying on a sharp sword for Fire Chief Lee Glover who in all respects to his command his nowhere to be found and neglecting his duty to his command?
We leave you with a strong remark in the In-Service notes which we stated above, “Firefighters believe Glover’s only goal is to look good to the City Manager’s Office and City Council which results in him neglecting his duty to his command.” ….. come back tomorrow for part two
UPDATE: PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE MADE CORRECTIONS TO OUR ARTICLE BASED ON MORE DETAILS RECEIVED. CORRECTIONS CAN BE NOTED IN RED OR WITH A STRIKETHROUGH MARK.
If you live in Frisco, then you should know the name Cameron Kraemer. Kraemer, the former Assistant Fire Chief, was fired after 27+ years with the city. During his time with the Frisco Fire Department, he served as Deputy Chief, Battalion Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Firefighter and Paramedic. But last year in 2023 Kraemer’s name was the subject of many headlines. Community Impact’s headline read, “Frisco Assistant Fire Chief Kraemer fired after nearly 30 years” and The Dallas Express headline read, “Local Assistant Fire Chief Kraemer Fired.”
Why would the City of Frisco fire such a long-standing employee? Kraemer’s history with the city goes deep, his dad Tom Kraemer, who recently passed away, worked for the city’s communications department for around 19 years. A Facebook post by the Frisco Fire Fighters Association on May 2, 2023 read, “Regrettably, Assistant Chief Kraemer has been terminated by the City of Frisco after 27 years of service, without being given the opportunity to go through the appeals process and contested case hearings,” the post read in part. The post went on to say that Kraemer went on leave in August 2022 for post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the Frisco Fire Fighters Association, Kraemer filed for workers’ compensation for PTSD in December 2022, citing Section 504.019 of the Texas Labor Code. The department denied Kraemer’s claim. He is appealing the decision. The post closed with the following remark, “It is disheartening to witness the dismissal of a Firefighter with significant tenure in this way, particularly in a city that prides itself on its care and regard for its employees.”
At Frisco Chronicles, we felt something smelled like a freshly cooking, Cowboy Cow Pile Patty, smoldering in our Texas 110-degree summer heat. That is a nice way of saying something smelled like ShXt. We started to dig, and we uncovered some dirty back door dealings about the city which we disclosed in our 12 days of Christmas Articles (check the archives). We were curious what would happen next with Kraemer, and we didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Cameron Kraemer took his workers’ compensation case before the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) claiming he was undergoing treatment for long-term post-traumatic stress when the city terminated him and denied his claims for medical coverage. On September 21, 2023, the case went before the TDI in Dallas and the administrative law judge who heard the case ordered the City of Frisco, which is self-insured, to pay Kraemer benefits and any accrued but unpaid income benefits in a lump sum with interest as provided by law.
On October 12, 2023, the Frisco Firefighters Association released a Press Release that was posted to their Facebook page that reads, “The state ruled that Cameron’s injury was compensable under the workers’ compensation law. We are working with the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters to review Cameron’s options for going forward.” Attached to the post was a Press Release and it quotes Matthew Sapp, President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association, as saying “Cameron Kraemer was undergoing treatment for LINE-OF-DUTY injuries clearly recognized by the state legislature and medical experts, but the City of Frisco CHOSE TO BREAK THE LAW, deny him insurance coverage and terminate him.” The press release noted: The city WASTED TAXPAYER RESOURCES on this case!
The win was also reported across local news and newspapers. The Dallas Morning News headline reads “Frisco Firefighter fired while on medical leave WINS WORKERS’ COMP CASE.” The article noted Kraemer was still undergoing treatment for long-term post-traumatic stress disorder. Kraemer is quoted as saying, “They took away my job, it took away all my benefits, they took away everything, and they wanted me to retire.” Kraemer refused to retire and went through the appeals process. “I’m still young so I’m penalized for retiring before the age of 50 as a first responder. I’m only 46,” he said. “And the reality is I’ve got three teenagers, and they had to walk through this process with us. And the amount of strain and tension and stress and anxiety that it puts on the house, you can’t even quantify it.”
While many don’t believe that PTSD is a real issue, it is! Ask yourself this, if you saw a 45-foot Frisco Fire Truck back up and pin a fellow firefighter against the wall of a city building, then after you had to clean up the blood and bodily fluids at the scene and notify the fellow firefighter’s family, COULD YOU HANDLE IT? The incident, discussed in the DMN articles is what Cameron Kraemer and our fellow Frisco Firefighters see every day! As a holistic person I can only imagine the impact it has on your mind, body, spirit and soul. Do you think Sassy Lauren Safranek, the City HR Director, or any of our fellow city council members have witnessed anything like this or worse? How about seeing it throughout your 27-year career, are you sure you could handle it?
Truthfully, my wife and I could not imagine seeing the devastation and destruction these men and woman in both our Police and Fire departments see daily. You probably think the city did the right thing but of course they didn’t. Instead, they sent their attack boar Bobblehead Bill Woodard on social media to pass out false information on Kraemer’s case and attack our first responders during the most recent election. Why is a city councilman releasing personal details in an ongoing case on social media? We are glad he did because it made our spidey little senses rise and we started investigating and will write about that in our next article.
Where is Cameron Kraemer now? Well, he is still receiving treatment, and his case had to go before the DOJ to determine if he was able to sue the city for his wrongful termination. Yesterday, we learned from sources inside the city that the DOJ ruled Kramer can sue and we are betting he wins big time! Meanwhile Bobblehead Bill Woodard wants you to believe our firefighters are lazy (his words during the May 2024 election), however it is not in their nature to lay down without a fight. Kraemer is going to use the legal process to take a wrecking ball to the city in court, which he should! Infact, the case was filed on 8/2/2024 in Collin Countys 416th District Court under case number 416-05201-2024.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU THE TAXPAYER? That means taxpayers on top of spending money on Performing Arts Centers, downtown revitalization, and the upcoming Grand Park, will also be subject to a BIG TIME CASINO LIKE PAYOUT to Cameron Kraemer and rightfully so! To be direct, the city who lolly gagged around, could have tried to settle this issue but choose to swing their cajónes around and now taxpayers will foot the bill for it. NOW YOU CAN SEE WHY THEY ARE ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE THEY ARE RAISING OUR TAXES!
Do you love Amazon? It is hard to believe that there is one website where you could literally scroll and find anything and everything you want. Half the time, you can find items to buy that you did not even know you need, until low and behold your eyes see it! The dangers of scrolling can hit the pocketbook. We like to look at how the city spends our tax dollars, and it is kind of like Amazon. They spend money like they are shopping on Amazon, adding items to the cart and when they are bored they just look for something that tickles their fancy.
Imagine our surprise when scrolling through the city agendas, we found another interesting item from the July 2nd City Council Meeting related to purchasing authority. Daniel Ford, Director of Administrative Services sent a memo to the Mayor, Members of the Frisco City Council, and cc’d in Wes Pierson – City Manager and E.A. Hoppe – Assistant City Manager asking them to consider a change to the ordinance granting purchasing authority to the City Manager or his/her designee for all budgeted items not exceeding $100,000.
In 2017, the City Council approved a threshold increase from $25,000 to $50,000. Why are they now wanting to change it to $100,000? The memo states the request is being made to streamline the contract approval process, expedite routine non-controversial purchases, and to reduce the administrative burden on staff, while maintaining compliance and transparency.The word transparency made us laugh!
The memo goes on to read that in 2018 the purchasing of items on the consent agenda was 117 for the full year. Now they claim it has gone up to 245 for the full year and this change would reduce the administrative and processing time for putting council items together by almost two weeks. It also states the increase would allow more flexibility and efficiency to handle these agreements. HOW DOES MAINTAINING TRANSPARENCY AND FLEXIBILITY GO TOGETHER?
Would you be surprised to learn that Agenda Item #30 passed and was APPROVED 6 – 0. The new ORDINANCE 2024-07-32 basically allows the city to spend more with less oversight. How is that transparent? Who determines what is a ROUTINE AND NON-CONTROVERSIAL purchase? Oh yeah, the city determines that that! If one of the council members knocked on your door and said I need 100,000, don’t ask questions, just trust me, would you? The staff is asking to reduce the administrative burden they face so they want to be paid the same but have their workload made easier or do less work.
Does anyone besides us see an issue with this Ordinance? Interesting how they threw it on the agenda before the Summer Vacation break, don’t you think? Why does the city always claim they are taking steps to be more TRANSPARENT, yet they send almost every single PIR to the Attorney General and hide information from the public? If you think this is a bad change then you should email your city council and city manager. Now they claim in this memo they want to spend more with less oversight to be more transparent.
When I was a kid, my dad used to say “listen to your 5 senses” because they will protect you. As a kid, I had no idea what he meant but as an adult, I understand the information collected by our five primary senses helps detect danger and allows our brains to understand and react to our surroundings. Personally, I always thought it was my bull shit meter, you know the internal gauge for detecting deception, insincerity, or exaggerated claims that made me smart. I think my wife got it right because she tells me the reason, I am such a good detective is due to the marriage of my “spidey senses” and my bull shit meter. She hit the nail on the head!
When we first heard in May 2023 that the City of Frisco fired 27-year veteran, Cameron Kraemer from the Fire Department over a work-related illness, we knew there had to be more to the story. Immediately our team started reaching out to sources within the city and it was a game of silence from all sides. Then we heard Mr. Kraemer might speak at citizens’ input, and we wanted to make sure we watched the meeting. First person to speak was Matt Sapp, President of the Firefighters Assoc and watching it today, it explains so much why our FD is fighting for Prop A & B during this election cycle.
Then we watched Mr. Kraemer speak at the city council meeting and it was enough to break anyone’s heart. A man poured out his soul and admitted to the public he had PTSD, a mental health issue, and the city should be ashamed of how they have treated him and the response from the council…nothing. We have a video with some highlights, but you can see the full video by clicking the link.
At the end of citizens’ input, we were caught off guard when Mr. Wes Pierson, our new city manager leaned forward and announced he had something to say regarding Cameron Kraemer. This is the man who through the whole meeting sits back with a smug look on his face, swaying in his chair with an overall arrogance about him. We listened to him, and his words were so cold, so impersonal, and then we thought how did he have this whole speech prepared and ready to go that night? Had he heard that Kraemer maybe attending the meeting, or did he write it on the fly? Either way, alarm bells were ringing in my head.
My spidey sense bull shit meter went through the roof, and I was sure we were on to something, but what? Time went by and we followed the case. Kraemer and the Fire Association fought the city on whether his illness (PTSD) was work related and he won. Simply put, the city should hire him back or offer him a path back to work. However, the city is choosing to dig in their heels and skirt responsibility so Kraemer will likely end up suing the city which will cost the taxpayers. Because it is under wraps it is hard to follow the case and we thought our research was over.
Then fast forward to election time, where a new PAC is created called Safety Frisco First. We told you about this PAC in our blog The Secret PAC. We quickly noticed that Bill Woodard and City Shady Bunch running the PAC were putting out a lot of details and documents and none of them went to fighting the purpose. This raised our curiosity because the documents seemed more personal in nature and directed at a few specific individuals to malign and attack their character. It felt like the page was being used by the city to say the things they want to say but cannot say.
We filed two PIRs with the City. The first was for copies of any PIR requests and the corresponding documents made from Bill Woodard, Mike Simpson, Dick or Richard Peasley, Safety First Frisco PAC from 1/1/22 to Present. As you can guess the city has sent that to Texas AG in order to delay releasing the documents. What do you think they are hiding?
Then we filed another PIR for any emails, text, or handwritten correspondence between city officials regarding the Frisco Fire Association Prop A & B. Guess what…they sent it to the Texas AG to delay releasing the documents. What do you think they are trying to hide until after the election is over?
The PAC website has a document called “Letter from Weston Fire Chief regarding Asst Chief Kraemer,” but what does that have to do with fighting civil service or collective bargaining? The letter was a clear attack on a 27-year First Responder who worked for the City of Frisco, to discredit him. We kept asking ourselves, what does this letter have to do with the PACs purpose? Time to find some answers.
Our first question is, how did the PAC get these documents? Well of course they would have to go through the formal process like us and file a PIR, right? On 2/26/24 we filed a PIR that reads, “We recently visited the Safety-First Frisco PAC website, and we noticed a section called Resources that has the following documents which we listed out. All of these documents would have to have been obtained through a PIR or a series of PIRs so we would like to see the specific PIR(s) requests for the following information above.”
We got an email back on 3/8/24 and a few things piqued our interest in the city’s response. It said the Presentation to City Council regarding Salary Adjustments was NOT a PIR release. The document was released at the November 21, 2023, Budget and Audit Committee Meeting. Then they said the Letter from Western Fire Chief re Asst Chief Kraemer was NOT a PIR release. Lastly the Report on Residential Fire – 4 on a Truck was NOT a PIR release. HELLO, how did SFF get three documents, one appearing to being related to an HR file without filing a PIR and how would they know such a letter exists like that if it is in an HR file? Councilman Bill Woodard must have known about these documents due to his position which he is now using for political purposes for a PAC that he heads up. Ethical?
Next, we filed PIRs with the City of Weston and asked for a copy of any PIRs, and corresponding documents made by Bill Woodard or representatives from the City of Frisco. The response, “The City of Weston has not received any PIR request from Bill Woodard or any requests from the City of Frisco.” We also did a search of Weston’s agendas for the last few years, and you won’t believe what we found.
Guess who the City Attorney is for the City of Weston? Richard Abernathy (same as the City of Frisco)
Guess who the City of Weston hired as a city manager consultant? George Purefoy (former city manager for the City of Frisco)
Guess who the City of Weston hired as a fire consultant? Mack Borchardt, who CURRENTLY WORKS FOR THE CITY OF FRISCO AS SPECIAL CONSULTANT FOR THE CITY MANAGER. Wait, so we taxpayers are paying Borchardt, and he is allowed to work for other cities and make money at the same time?
Next, we went to Weston Fire and Rescue and filed a PIR and we asked for four things, response from Weston F&R are in bold;
I would like a copy of any PIR request and the corresponding documents returned in the PIR request from the City of Frisco relating to Cameron Kraemer and his time volunteering, serving as Captain, or working in the last three years. The PIR or request could have been done by text, email, or handwritten (formal or informal). WFR has no documentation.
I would like a copy of any PIR or request (formal or informal) from consultants named Mack Borchardt and/or George Purefoy (who are also consultants for The City of Weston) relating to Cameron Kraemer and his time volunteering, consulting, or working with the Weston FD in the last three years. WFR has no documentation.
I would like a copy of the letter from Kevin Deal (Former Fire Chief) supplied to the City of Frisco regarding Cameron Kraemer and the time he spent with Weston FD, and I would like to know if anyone else has requested this letter in the last two years. Attached and only you requested it
We could not believe our eyes! They attached the letter and right there in front of us we started to compare the letter supplied to the City of Frisco. We about fell over because the letters don’t MATCH!
What are the differences:
Weston F&R: No Date vs The Safety-First Frisco PAC: The letter is dated
Weston F&R: To Whom It May Concern vs The Safety-First Frisco PAC: addressed to whom it may concern and Attn: Wes Pierson
Weston F&R: Signature vs The Safety-First Frisco PAC: Signature = TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT SIGNATURES!
We would love it if the City of Frisco and/or The Safety-First Frisco PAC tell us how we have 2 totally different letters. While the body is the same nothing else is and that is alarming. It very clearly looks like the letter was forged or is a fake. Now we have so much more to this investigation to come but ask yourself, why does the City of Frisco want you to believe former Fire Chief Mark Piland was this horrible Fire Chief but according to his EVAL and his employment history he has NEVER been written up in 40-year career. Yet when he comes to work for Frisco, they want us to believe with perfect EVALS that he was such a bad leader? Now we have the Assistant Fire Chief whom they want us to believe is this horrible person even though he was only written up once in 27 years for bringing a smoker trailer on the property. They provide a letter that looks nothing like the original sent to the city and somehow the PAC gets it to post on their website. This letter just happens to show up to help the city’s case and they have 3 people contracting with the city with ties to The City of Frisco. We would think that this letter would be a part of someone’s personal or HR file, so how did the PAC get it? If you released it to the PAC, then does that mean we can go back to the Texas AG to review previous requests of HR files to reopen where you made a claim, they were confidential?
We have so much more on this to peel apart and will blog again soon. Ask yourself does this look like a targeted campaign to destroy two men’s lives and reputations? It does to us, and the question is for what? It all goes back to Sassy Lauren Safranek the HR DIRECTOR who falsified records. Also ask yourself if The VOTE NO PAC is willing to post a forged letter what else have they lied to you about? Lastly, did any of our current council including the two running for re-election know the letter had been modified before posted to the PAC site? What we do know for sure, is something smells like Shit in Frisco, and we are curious what part Bobblehead Bill Woodard is involved in?
LOL @ friscowhistleblower.
What do you know?
Mind your own business karens
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